Bankers & Anchors: Rnd 5, 2020 vs North Melbourne

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

his is the round 5, 2020 edition of the weekly Bankers and Anchors thread. Once the game against North is concluded post your nominations for:

The Bankers = 3 guys/aspects of the game that we banked on to do the right thing during the game
The Anchors = 3 guys/aspects of the game that weighed us down by their errors or poor play

Please limit it to no more than three of each player or aspect of the game, but feel free to make honourable/dishonourable mentions. As usual try to make it constructive criticism.

Try and restrict it to individual players rather than aspects of the overall match - I will allow more freedom now as the thread seems to be going down more of the aspects of the game path so you can have 3 for each made up of aspects of the game and individual players.

The thread is named in honour of a popular WOOF Contributor, The Banker, who passed away on 22/04/2012 after a six month battle with cancer.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Bankers,

Williams -poise, hardness, decision making and disposals, he's improved in all categories. His 50 metre pass to hit Wallis in the forward pocket was the exclamation point to that.

Wood- his marking was a throwback to 2016 and was the perfect complement to Keath, Cordy and Williams

English - I know Goldy got more hitouts, and hit the scoreboard, but English was really pivotal in all areas of the ground.

[westbulldog]

Bankers
Easton Wood, impassable, terrific game
Josh Bruce, we maligned him and he delivered tonight.
Vendermeer and West, will be around for a long time, both show real poise and hardness at the contest.

Anchors
Smith's injury.

[1eyedog]

Bankers.

Caleb Daniel is one of the cleanest players to ever play the game. His efficiency is mind blowing.

McLean. Another successful defensive game he looks committed and hungry.

Rylee West. Little taps, pokes and 100% commitment he is a super effective pocket dynamo. His work at half forward that led to that goal was exemplary.

Anchors

Baz and Vandermeer going down.

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Bruce - determined to show he was worth trading for
2. Easton Wood - Played the role he is best at playing
3. Mclean, played his best game for more than 12 months

Anchors

1. North are still snipers
2. Concussion to Smith and Vandameer
3. Umpires throwing prior opportunity out the door. May or maynot like prior, but it is still a rule and should be adjudicated as such.

[SonofScray]

B

Bruce. Revelled in being the main target and took his chances when the supply came in. Seemed to stay closer to home and worked well with Schache.

Schache. Commentators just go on and on about him being soft. So much focus on what he isn't. But let's focus on what he is. A very hard working, smart, tall forward. Leads up the ground and creates space. Works hard, hots the scoreboard. A welcome return.

Wood. Full of beans.

A

Norf cheap shots
That's it.

[Ozza]

Bankers:

West - huge efforts in Q2 and Q3 turned the game our way.
McLean - stepped up to a midfield role when Baz went down and immediately influenced the game. The speed with which he hits contest and ground ball breaks up the play for us.
Daniel & JJ - lethal off half back. 18 score involvements between them.

Anchors:

- Injuries obviously.
- Alistair Clarkson & the AFL for the complete confusion caused in terms of HTB adjudication
- Geez the coverage frustrates me. I could care less about the commentators. The obsession with zoomed in camera angles that give us no perspective of what is coming/up ahead, as well as the constant replays while the play is continuing and we can't see it....just show the bloody game. We saw Bailey Smith get bumped 300 times. They are obsessed with 'the story'. Show the game. And spare me with the behind the goals footage.

[jazzadogs]

Bankers
- as much as Mclean's game on Higgins was superb, it's actually the decision of our match committee to play a defensive mid/tagger that impressed me the most. If Mclean can develop into that player week in, week out, then our side is much better placed as a result
- Bruce's intent. He attacked the ball in the air and on the ground with ferocity. It has been there in the previous games, but the early goals definitely gave him confidence to keep presenting. His chunky legs have still got plenty of pace in them - he actually lead the team for repeat sprint efforts tonight.
- our full-ground defense, conceding under 40 points for the third week in a row. As Bevo said the back 6-7 deserve special mention, but their job is made so much easier by the frenetic pressure upfield. It will not be sustainable and there will be moments/games where teams break it down, but when the pressure is on we will be tough to beat.

Anchors
- I'm really sick of watching games on TV. I did it for two years when I lived overseas, but I think it has got worse - the camera angles are shocking, the commentary is appalling, there is no insight provided in the special comments. It really needs to lift.
- Cunnington was a literal anchor to the Norf team tonight. Hilarious that he played.

[merantau]

Bankers
1. Team defence is back. Caleb Daniel the Ringmaster. Unique player.
2. Bruce and Schache combined well
3. Libber, West and Vandermeer - excellent games.

Anchors

1. Injuries
2. We missed a couple of easy ones.
3. Commentators

[comrade]

B

1. Libba. I'm praying to the footy gods that his knees hold up for a few more years. He's critical to our flag hopes.
2. English. He would have been battling some demons given the pantsing Goldy gave him last year but he held his own and was very influential.
3. Sam Power. He must have been pretty chuffed seeing the 2 big gorillas he brought to the club both having a big say in our win last night.

A

1. Injuries.
2. Bont needs to work through tags much better.
3. Geez, this is tough. Umm...the AFL for giving into Clarkson's whinging and changing rule interpretations on the fly. What other professional sporting leagues does that?

[SonofScray]

B

1. Libba. I'm praying to the footy gods that his knees hold up for a few more years. He's critical to our flag hopes.
2. English. He would have been battling some demons given the pantsing Goldy gave him last year but he held his own and was very influential.
3. Sam Power. He must have been pretty chuffed seeing the 2 big gorillas he brought to the club both having a big say in our win last night.

A

1. Injuries.
2. Bont needs to work through tags much better.
3. Geez, this is tough. Umm...the AFL for giving into Clarkson's whinging and changing rule interpretations on the fly. What other professional sporting leagues does that?
He is going to keep getting that level of attention. However, it felt like last night we just went through Macrae more instead.Havent checked the stats, but it's like Bont and the team were comfortable in not spending too many tickets trying to break the tag. Maybe a generous assessment.

[comrade]

He is going to keep getting that level of attention. However, it felt like last night we just went through Macrae more instead.Havent checked the stats, but it's like Bont and the team were comfortable in not spending too many tickets trying to break the tag. Maybe a generous assessment.

There were patches where Bont was unseen at centre bounces so it seems like Bevo definitely handed the reigns over to Macrae, Libba, Lipinski, McLean & West.

Nice to know we have a support team that can step up when Bont is well held, and that's without having Baz & Dunkley on hand either.

North suck, lol.

[Remi Moses]

B- transition from defense to attack was outstanding
- The defense standing up . Yes some shoddy forward entries from norf, but they haven’t conceded over 40 pts the last 3 games
- Bruce , answered the call and stood up
A- Knee jerk Clarkson whinge and adhering to it . Players don’t have 4 arms to make an attempt to clear the ball

[Bulldog Joe]

it seems I am in a minority but I really liked the HTB decisions in general terms without expecting perfection

B
The improved ball movement and less stoppage created by the new HTB interpretation. Long may it continue
Easton Wood - 2016 revisited
Laitham Vandemeer - he really brings something

A
Injuries

[Remi Moses]

it seems I am in a minority but I really liked the HTB decisions in general terms without expecting perfection

B
The improved ball movement and less stoppage created by the new HTB interpretation. Long may it continue
Easton Wood - 2016 revisited
Laitham Vandemeer - he really brings something

A
Injuries

The Higgins and west ones weren’t frees
Gotta be careful we don’t discourage players from attacking the ball in fear they’re going to get pinged

[bornadog]

A special Banker for English. How well did the young man speak when he was interviewed after the game. He is very impressive.

BTW: he may have lost the hitouts but hitouts to advantage were 5 all.

[comrade]

The Higgins and west ones weren’t frees
Gotta be careful we don’t discourage players from attacking the ball in fear they’re going to get pinged

Yeah, there will be some currently unseen consequences to this change, once coaches work out how to deal with it.

And then in 6 weeks, we'll be back complaining about how bad the game looks.

[Happy Days]

Yeah, there will be some currently unseen consequences to this change, once coaches work out how to deal with it.

And then in 6 weeks, we'll be back complaining about how bad the game looks.

We're already seeing it. There's been a noticeable spike in players chucking the ball out looking for holidng the man frees , and getting away with it because umpires have been instructed to penalise holding the ball in and letting instances of the ball "getting knocked out in the tackle" go.

There's a VERY apparent explanation for why the skill level in games is down and attrition level is up, and it's not a lack of HTB decisions.

[Mofra]

Bankers

1. Scott West's genes. My God Rhylee isn't a FS, he's a clone

2. Libba. So good under packs, how he disposes of the ball in no space is amazing

3. We picked up Bruce and Keath workout giving up a first rounder. Highway robbery.

Anchors

1. Injuries to kids

2. Nothing else

[comrade]

We're already seeing it. There's been a noticeable spike in players chucking the ball out looking for holidng the man frees , and getting away with it because umpires have been instructed to penalise holding the ball in and letting instances of the ball "getting knocked out in the tackle" go.

There's a VERY apparent explanation for why the skill level in games is down and attrition level is up, and it's not a lack of HTB decisions.

So intead of congestion and endless stoppages we'll see an increase of touchy & contentious holding the man decisions. Fans are going to love that.

[comrade]

3. We picked up Bruce and Keath workout giving up a first rounder. Highway robbery.


Yep, a damn nifty bit of trading that.

[Bulldog Joe]

The Higgins and west ones weren’t frees
Gotta be careful we don’t discourage players from attacking the ball in fear they’re going to get pinged

There will be errors as there always are, but the message that you can't just hold the ball in for a stoppage is the best thing to reduce congestion.

While they did get the Higgins one wrong, they also missed a couple that could have been paid.

[Stefcep]

B

1. Libba. I'm praying to the footy gods that his knees hold up for a few more years. He's critical to our flag hopes.
2. English. He would have been battling some demons given the pantsing Goldy gave him last year but he held his own and was very influential.
3. Sam Power. He must have been pretty chuffed seeing the 2 big gorillas he brought to the club both having a big say in our win last night.

A

1. Injuries.
2. Bont needs to work through tags much better.
3. Geez, this is tough. Umm...the AFL for giving into Clarkson's whinging and changing rule interpretations on the fly. What other professional sporting leagues does that?

All Bankers bar the injuries for me. Real team effort, winners all over the ground.

Agreed. Its a joke-so from now on, whenever a coach wants the rules re-interpreted, the AFL will do it?

Or is it only *some* coaches who will get that?

What's the AFL doing in the off-season-if this was an issue then it should have been acted on and communicated before Round 1, not Round bloody Five.

[Stefcep]

There will be errors as there always are, but the message that you can't just hold the ball in for a stoppage is the best thing to reduce congestion.

While they did get the Higgins one wrong, they also missed a couple that could have been paid.

Hawthorn have been the masters of delaying the game. Don't let the opponent get straight up, little jumper pull as they move back to take the kick, sit over the ball and take that bit longer to give the ball back, put on act taking your time to get up, all so as to give time for their defense to set up and congest the space. If the umps started penalizing all of that, the game would flow much better.

[ratsmac]

Bankers

1. Wood. Turned back the clock.
2. Cordy. He's playing with confidence and super competitive. He hates losing
3. Schache/Dale. They aren't known for doing the hard stuff but both were in packs putting their body in harm's way.

Anchors

1. Injuries.
2. -
3. -